Hypnotherapy – An Effective Way to Deal with Phobias

When you have to deal with a phobia or fear, your doctor may suggest hypnotherapy or you on your own may want to try it. Hypnotherapy is slowly getting endorsement as an effective treatment for many mental disorders like stress and anxiety, and even for weight loss and pain management. Although it’s a personal decision whether to use hypnotherapy for phobia or not, it’s a good idea to consult your doctor about it and also to understand some facts so as to make an informed decision.

What are Phobias?

It’s nothing to be ashamed of getting feared because fear is a perfectly healthy and natural response of humans to dangerous situations. It helps us evade such situations. But phobias are something different. They are more intense than fears. Some people may suffer from severe panic attacks and anxiety due to phobias.

Phobias are unrealistic and exaggerated fear about an object or situation. If such a phobia-causing object or situation is common in daily life, the phobia can bring restrictions to a person’s life, holding them back from whatever they want to do and thereby causing huge distress.

If it’s not an everyday object or situation, it may not interfere with your daily life.

Several phobias are present in our subconscious and are learned responses. In that case, hypnotherapy can help one unlearn the fear response, develop one’s exposure to the phobia and ease the related anxiety. Thus, hypnosis can help you against fear, phobia and stress thereof.

Symptoms of Phobias

Symptoms of a phobia can show when the person comes in contact with the source of phobia. But in some people, they show even with the thought of the phobia-causing thing or situation. Here are some symptoms of phobias:

• Extreme fear
• Nervousness
• Anxiety
• Sweating
• Lightheadedness/dizziness
• Nausea
• Faster heartbeat and/or palpitations
• Upset stomach
• Shaking

Examples of Phobias

Examples of phobias include:

• Animal phobias (e.g. dogs, snakes, spiders)
• Situational phobias (e.g. visiting a dentist, flying)
• Environmental phobias (e.g. crowds, heights, open water)
• Sexual phobias (e.g. fear of STDs or performance anxiety)
• Bodily phobias (e.g. having infections, blood, vomiting)
• Others (e.g. certain food items or other objects)

Hypnotherapy in Phobias

Since phobias work on a subconscious level, no matter how much we try to convince ourselves that the concerned thing or situation is not frightening, our bodies and minds respond with fear. Hypnotherapy communicates with the subconscious and changes your thoughts about the sources of phobia in a positive way.

You are put into a more relaxed state and the hypnotherapist will try to get to the root of your phobia to help you remember the event that triggered it (if there’s any). Then he’ll use different techniques to help you change your reaction which will often involve gently and slowly confronting your phobia while maintaining a calm state.

You may need one or more sessions for totally overcoming your phobia; but you’ll definitely see the results. Consult your primary healthcare provider and then go ahead.